Harriet Lowell
Harriet Emily Marie Lowell is a resident of Venus Island, and good friends with the island's owner, Rachel. She has been a sports islander staff member since she arrived on the island in June of 2015. History Harriet was born on the thirtieth of January, 1996 in Fontmerle, Mougins, in France. She was raised in the countryside by her parents, Pascal and Amitee Lowell, and enjoyed a childhood of wealth and luxury. She moved with her family age the age of six to Cobham, Surrey, England, in the United Kingdom, where she went to boarding school after learning the English language. It was during her time at boarding school that she discovered her ability to act, which then inspired her to potentially pursue a career as an actress. However, she also realised her musical talents, especially with the piano; she could not decide whether she wanted to pursue acting or music as a career, and did not feel comfortable going to college without an idea of which one she wanted to do. An invitation from Rachel to move to Venus Island was most opportune a year or two after she left school; she gratefully accepted the invitation, as she believed that a semi-permanent holiday would be just the thing to get her thoughts together - not to mention the fact that she could make some new friends also. Physical Description Harriet is tall and womanly, with a larger-than-average bust. Her eyes are an aquamarine colour that can look a little green in some lights, and her hair is a natural sunflower blonde. She will often either wear her long hair down normally or in a low ponytail, always with a decorative lace bow. On special occasions, she will usually style her hair into a pull-through braid style. She likes to regularly wear makeup every day, almost always consisting of lipstick, blush, eyeliner, and occasionally eyeshadow. Although her makeup is often simply to enhance her face, she will sometimes go a little further and add more colour to her face; red lipstick is very common in this regard. Harriet's most characteristic mannerism is the snapping of her fingers; she will tend to snap her fingers if she is running out of patience or annoyed. Rosalie especially likes this mannerism and attempted to mimic it, but found that she could not snap her fingers. Harriet has a good sense of balance also, and likes to take her time with her movements - especially when relaxing - rarely ever rushing for the sake of it. This gives her an air of confidence and perhaps even reassurance, but she lacks the potentially arrogant demeanour of Natalie. Harriet stands out from everyone else on Venus Island in regards to her dress sense, as it is always quite formal and often somewhat old-fashioned. She will often be seen in either a blouse with a midi or maxi skirt and heels, or in a rather vintage-looking dress. She prefers to wear darker colours such as grey, burgundy, or navy, but is equally as open to wearing white on Venus Island. In regards to swimsuits, as Harriet considers a swimsuit to inherently mean that "one is to relax in many ways", so she does with her choice in swimsuits. The majority of her swimsuits are expensive and luxurious, but, just like Lucy, rarely breaching her standards of modesty and showing off too much skin. Her choice of swimsuit is almost guaranteed to also be a brighter and bolder colour or colours than her regular dress sense, although white is equally as common a colour in that respect. Harriet likes to wear a variety of different accessories, although these are predominantly jewellery rather than anything else. Whether it be a necklace, earrings, bracelets, or bangles, Harriet is almost always wearing at least one item of jewellery - she will never wear jewellery at the same time as a swimsuit, however. The majority of her necklaces are ones with the cross, which she likes to regularly wear more so than any other necklace that she owns. Additionally, when working, she will usually wear a pair of white silk gloves to avoid getting her hands too dirty. Health, Hygiene, and Voice Harriet is a healthy individual and, although she does have a stronger-than-average immune system, she is still quite a germaphobe. She obsesses over her hygiene to the point where she may take at least three showers per day and washes her hands even more, wears her aforementioned silk gloves to avoid touching dirty things, and will only eat food that is prepared by her; she will also refuse to drink out of a plastic or paper cup, and will only drink out of a clean glass. She spends a lot on a variety of different perfumes, and usually smells differently every day. Although under less scrutiny from herself than her hygiene, Harriet also takes care with her diet by making sure to eat as much healthy meals as possible. She will, however, usually treat herself to an evening dessert that can either be healthy or unhealthy. She makes sure to retire to bed specifically at 9:00PM and to get up at 6:00AM, and she has a very good memory. Despite having spent a good portion of her childhood in England rather than her home country of France, Harriet still retains quite a thick French accent. Her voice is somewhat deep, soft, and soothing, and she likes to speak slowly, calmly and with a degree of charm. Much like Natalie, she will very rarely raise her voice, only doing so if she is emotional or desperate. Being both fluent in French and English, Harriet has a habit of mixing the two languages together in regular conversation by interchanging English words for French words; she will also use a number of French phrases in her day-to-day vocabulary. The most common French terms and phrases that she uses are as follows: "s'il vous plaît" or "s'il te plaît" (meaning "please" - the former is used when addressing a group of people), "oui" and "non" (meaning "yes" and "no"), "comment allez-vous?" (meanining "how are you?"), "excusez-moi" (meaning "excuse me"), and "merci beaucoup" (meaning "thank you very much"). Personality Although she shares with Natalie a similar sober and charming demeanour, and while the both of them are very mature women, Harriet is much more down-to-earth and open. An example of this is Harriet's sense of humour; she is very capable of laughing at herself, sometimes even being the one do so, and almost always finds others doing impressions of her quite amusing. She also finds "silly comedy" very amusing; ever since discovering Vine compilations on YouTube thanks to Taylor, she likes to occasionally quote Vines, which usually ends up with her laughing more than anyone else. She claims that her favourite vine is "A potato flew around my room before you came" - she never fails to at least chuckle when viewing this vine, or a derivative of it. Harriet's biggest strength is her ability to learn; she claims to always be on a journey of education, whether it be learning new words in English or learning to play new, harder piece of music on the piano. She is quite persevering towards her goals, and has a sense of perspective that is made complete by the perspective of others. Despite being so formal and upper-class, she does not consider herself above anyone and so is not above being kind for the sake of being kind. She also likes to help others as best as she can, even if it means being there for them in difficult times. She is very socially intelligent, and is capable of easily judging the mood of a conversation. She makes a good leader and team member; however, unlike Natalie, she considers fairness a priority, second only to preserving her own cleanliness. She is also quite humble, and does not like to brag. She finds it easy to forgive others, but only if she thinks that they have a desire to change and are actually making an effort to change. She is somewhat prudent, recognising that some risks are necessary in life; she is good at judging these risks as being beneficial or not worth it. As insinuated by her mannerisms and diet earlier, she is also very disciplined and self-controlled, and able to manage her feelings well. She is capable of recognising and appreciating the beauty around her as well as the skills of others, even if she does not necessarily understand it. She is grateful for many things, including her friends and her position in life, and does not take these things for granted. While she is optimistic for the future, she prioritises realism over optimism, and at most mixes the two together responsibly. Likes and Dislikes Harriet considers it a pleasure to be able to hang out and have conversations with her friends on Venus Island. Not only does it "make up for" the fact that she was a little closed off during school, it also enables her to practice her English - even if she has already practised it for many years now and is essentially almost a native speaker since she speaks English more than French nowadays. Aside from conversing, Harriet also has great appreciation for classical music. Not only does she listen to a large variety of classical music - from pianos and violins to opera and falsetto - but she can also play the piano quite well. She has learnt to play a number of different pieces of piano music, including "Solfeggietto", "Für Elise", and "Clair de Lune". Although she cannot sing, and especially not in the same way as her favourite song, "Lakme - Duo des fleurs (Leo Delibes)", she can sometimes be heard whistling the song when working on something. She also very much enjoys acting, and is somewhat skilled in doing so. She is regularly featured on Lucy's Instagram account in various short videos in which she acts out a scene. These videos often include other islanders, and a number of the videos feature Kourtney with Harriet, playing out a scene from one of Kourtney's stories. Harriet's personal favourite of these videos is a scene where Harriet is playing the part of Kourtney's sister, calling out to her - "You mustn't go! You're the only one I have left! I have to protect you! Please!" - as Kourtney simply says goodbye and walks away. Harriet likes to relax in the evenings in her room before going to bed, sitting in her armchair and reading a good book while classical music is quietly playing in the background. She has quite a collection of classical books from a variety of different authors; her favourite author is Jane Austen, although she does like Oscar Wilde, George Orwell, and Charles Dickens very much. Harriet has a lot of prized possessions as well as her collections of classical books and music; the decorative lace bow that she will always wear with her hair in a low ponytail was a hand-me-down from her mother that has been passed down through many generations of her family, and so she treasures it highly. Similarly, Harriet has a lot of pet peeves and dislikes - the most prominent of which being her at-times dramatic dislike of dirtiness. As she values her hygiene very highly, she is very averse to deliberately, or even potentially accidentally, getting dirty; she especially does not like the idea of dirt and mud, or even wet sand. Another large dislike of hers is loud noises, as well as unnecessary or uncalled-for noises; the most common examples of this are others making a lot of noise when she is trying to relax, or Michelle's entire taste in music. Harriet also dislikes bad grammar, and will sometimes go out of her way to correct others on their misspellings or mispronunciation of words. This used to happen quite a lot with Paige, as she is not a good speller, although Harriet has gotten better over time at tolerating bad grammar. Relationships and Family Harriet is good friends with a number of different islanders, and not all of them are as upper-class as herself. As well as having close friendships with Rachel and Christina, she is also good friends with Natalie and Lucy. As well as being "co-workers" of sorts as both of them are sports islander staff members, Lucy looks up to and aspires to Harriet's etiquette and formality. Harriet also has a special relationship with Rosalie of all people, and treats her as if she was her daughter. After Rosalie approached Harriet a month after they both arrived on the island, expressing curiosity and interest towards Harriet's upper-class nature, the two quickly developed a friendship with one another. Harriet would teach Rosalie the good manners and etiquette skills that she had been taught as a child, and Rosalie would help her out around her duties on the island in return, while simultaneously roleplaying as a maid. While Harriet does keep in contact with her parents, it is more often than not her parents keeping in contact with her rather than the other way around. She does like to pay them a visit back home every once in a while, however, where they catch up on each other's lives over tea. Social Life Harriet is a sociable person, but only in her idea of social situations. That is to say that she much prefers to have proper conversations in full, sitting down if possible, perhaps even over a meal. She is patient, however; although she does not let it affect her treatment of others, she can be a little judgemental towards strangers. While she demonstrably prefers to associate with others like her, such as Rachel and Christina, she is very accepting of those less well-off and different to her. Romantic Life Harriet is heterosexual, and has never developed romantic feelings for anyone in her life before. She was the subject of many crushes, however, during her time at boarding school; she has since lost count of the amount of boys that had confessed their feelings for her. She attributes her lack of love life in her teenage years to her being somewhat closed off to others in that respect, but claims to have since loosened up as she has realised her desire for a fulfilling relationship. Much like Rachel, Harriet's ideal date is to be treated to a candlelit dinner at an expensive restaurant; she is also very attracted to the idea of a more rural date, in the form of having a lovely walk in the countryside before having a picnic by a lake or river, although she would only like this during spring or summer when the sun is out. Perhaps obviously, Harriet is a virgin, and does not wish for this to change until after she is married. She is, however, very attracted to well-built, hairy men; although, thanks to her particular attitude towards hygiene, can easily be turned off by the smallest hygiene "slip-up". She is quite sexually dominant, and believes that a perfect partner must be capable of being both dominant and submissive in sexual experiences with her. She is very averse to engaging in autoeroticism, primarily because of her faith and subsequent consideration of the act as a sin. She has not engaged in autoeroticism since she was eighteen, as she recalls a number of things going badly in the next few days that followed; she believes that this was because God was punishing her for her sin, and has since kept her promise to God and never engaged in the act again. Behaviour Harriet is almost always calm and rarely ever emotional, even when she is emotional on the inside. Similarly, she is rarely ever angry; she will raise her voice a tad and snap her fingers at someone if she is annoyed at them, however. She can become quite angry if she feels humiliated, however, and will likely end up lashing out at someone. She prefers not to display any sadness that she may be feeling too much, but she will let it all out in private when in the company of close friends or by herself. In moments of conflict, Harriet likes to be the bigger person and will try to amend the situation. Similarly, she will apologise and try to make amends if she feels guilty of something, or that she has done something wrong. In moments of danger, she will try her best to defend others from harm while at the same time trying to preserve herself. She tends not to let her fear get to her; she may display on her face that she is scared, but she will not act like it. Harriet is not averse as such towards the topic of sex in conversation, but she will not gladly discuss it either. She will most often take a back seat and listen to others talk about sex rather than participating in the discussion, as she claims to have "nothing to say on the matter". She is open to talking about sex relating to her personally in private with her close friends, but she will not do so in public. Similarly, she will tend to either brush off any flirtatious comments or remarks that are made to her, either by laughing it off or thanking the individual. Harriet has a high tolerance for pain, and can easily shrug off small pains as well as being capable of disguising more moderate pains. She will concede to severe pains, however, although she tends to reluctantly do so if it means that she has to give up her responsibilities temporarily. She is capable of performing well under stress also, although only if she has to; she will try to avoid any responsibilities that will only add to the stress that she is experiencing. Due to her character, she tends not to be subject to peer pressure also. She welcomes criticism, but will always attempt to start a conversation regarding the piece of criticism, whether it be at once or another time. This is her way of knowing that it is a valid piece of criticism as it gives the other party an opportunity to explain in detail their problem(s) with her and hopefully even provide suggestions for a solution. She will accept praise much easier, however, but only if she feels it is justified. Emotional and Spiritual Characteristics Harriet is a very level-headed and rational person, and lets herself only be ruled by emotion when she is acting, as it helps her to play the part. She is very capable of controlling herself, and she has a very strong set of morals that she stands by and holds herself to with "the tightest of grips". Her etiquette towards strangers and friends is very formal, going above and beyond from the perspective of a modern pair of eyes. She always begins an exchange with a greeting, usually "hello", "greetings", or "bonjour", and she will always end an exchange with a farewell such as "goodbye" or "au revoir". She will also reach the far corners of her English vocabulary when communicating, often switching out simpler words in favour of more complex synonyms; some examples of this include "notwithstanding" instead of "nonetheless", "engender" instead of "cause", "erroneous" instead of "wrong", and "salient" instead of "important". She will even go as far as to curtsy to new or returning islanders arriving on the island. Harriet is a devout Christian; she claims to devote herself to God and to Jesus Christ, and she likes to do so most prominently by following the Bible and praying twice a day in both the morning and evening, or during the day if something severe occurs. She sees the world through a lens of her own faith, meaning that tends to interpret things as happening because of God, perhaps as a punishment as a result of a sin being committed. She does not believe in astrology, however; her zodiac sign is Aquarius. Views and Opinions Thanks to her strong Christian faith and her upbringing, Harriet has very traditionalist and conservative views. She believes that marriage is a sacrament between a male and a female, and that a male and a female must wait until after marriage in order to engage in sexual intercourse. She also believes that autoeroticism is a sin, as is sexual practices of homosexuality. Politically, Harriet is very conservative, although not as radical in some ways as Christina. As well as homosexuality, she believes that transgenderism is also sinful and considers the act of transitioning to be "directly intervening in God's plan". However, she is very much against hating others for their race, sexuality, gender, or beliefs, as she claims that the Bible taught her "to forgive and not to execrate". This also enables her to be friends with other islanders who she would otherwise be at odds with, especially with such examples as Rosalie. Harriet has a good taste for alcohol and enjoys an occasional drink, but she is very aware of how much that she can drink before she becomes drunk. While she may drink, she will always stop before she becomes drunk, as she has no desire to experience being intoxicated. Harriet's motto is: "All of our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." She claims that this quote has no explicit backstory, and is just her favourite piece of advice that she has been given in the past. She considers her biggest accomplishments to be both her skills in playing the piano and in acting, as she has been for the most part self-taught. Although Harriet likes to dress at least somewhat modestly, she does not like to hide her body away from the world as she is confident in her own skin. However, while she is open to potentially wearing items of clothing that may be considered "sexy", she will only wear these items if she deems them to be "sexy" as a result of the style of the clothing, rather than "sexy" for the sake of being "sexy". For example, she may wear a stylish one-piece swimsuit that ultimately ends up revealing much of her buttocks, but she will not wear a micro-bikini. Dreams and Talents Although she has spent a number of years on Venus Island by now, Harriet still has not come to a sure conclusion on whether she wants to pursue music or acting as a career. She has observed, however, that she finds more active entertainment in acting rather than playing the piano, even if she does end up feeling very satisfied after learning to play a new song. As a result of this, she finds herself leaning towards pursuing acting as a career - she desires to stay on the island in the meantime, however, before jumping back into education. Regardless of whether she is to become a musician or an actress, Harriet is sure of one thing, and that is that she wishes to move back into the French countryside that she grew up in at some point down the line. She sometimes finds herself missing it quite a lot, whether her memories of her home are nostalgic, appreciative, or a mix of the two. Secrets, Regrets, and Fears Harriet's greatest fear are animals, both wild and tamed - although especially wild animals. She becomes very visually uncomfortable around animals, even otherwise innocent-looking pets, and will make every effort not to be near them. She attributes this fear to two different things: firstly, her obsession with her hygiene, and secondly, her belief that animals are more unpredictable than humans. Not only does the thought of being licked by a dog, or even having an insect crawling on her, cause her great discomfort and disgust, but she is also scared that the animal may be hostile towards her, even if there is a very low chance of that happening. Harriet also fears drunk people in general. The concept of someone being out of their mind, whether it be positively or negatively, unsettles her somewhat in a way that she cannot quite explain. She theorises that her fear is that another under the influence of alcohol may surpass their normal boundaries and end up doing something inappropriate or harmful either to themselves, herself, or others around them. Less significant fears of Harriet's include becoming deaf, quicksand, and aliens. Category:Characters Category:Cynerice's Characters